Not out of the woods yet! Brexit

15 November 2018

Brexit has been very much the focus of many people's minds over the last few months. The press has (rightly) been full of reporting on the subject, although one could argue that some of the biases that this has exposed have not been helpful.

Clearly the topic is vital to the UK's future and, I understand, with a requirement that around 3 to 4 months is needed to agree any changes, a few have been surprised that the decision-making falls this side of Christmas, rather than in 2019.

The options between the UK and the EU seem to have been either a no-deal or a compromise deal and the announcement yesterday through the EU sanctioned 585-page document of what appears to be a compromise deal was to be expected. I have left to one side the issues as to why alternatives could not have been agreed months ago to avoid this last-minute dash to come to a final 'agreement', and it is of note that at the time of writing (15 November 2018) three ministers thus far have resigned their posts.

As the title of this blog indicates, we are not out of the woods yet and the fall-out position of this 'deal' will be of note. 'Difficult days ahead', to quote the Prime Minister.

Another General Election to come? Time will tell, but I am not sure you will have to wait too long to find out as the various parties and politicians make their positions clear.

Looking at the financials, the markets, both currency and equity, (examples only at the time of writing / date 15/11/2018) have reacted with:

A fall in the value of the Pound (GBP) against the Dollar to $1.28

A fall in the value of the Euro against the Pound (GBP) to €1.13

FTSE 100 Index staying steady at 7,032 points

FTSE250 Index falling to 18,703 points

These updates are not an indication of future performance

We did not feel that we could not make comment on the Brexit update received yesterday, and I am sure that the next few days and weeks will be turbulent from a political perspective.

No individual advice is provided during the course of this blog

If you would like guidance and advice on your financial planning, then please do contact the team in Guildford at Chapters Financial.

Keith Churchouse FPFS

Director

CFP Chartered FCSI

Chartered Financial Planner

Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899.